Whole Record Review Supports SVP Finding

Koontz receives VTLA’s Distinguished Service Award

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: March 28, 2013
Tags: Bar Associations, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

WILLIAMSBURG–Virginia Supreme Court Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. retired from the high court in 2010, after 43 years as a judge. Since leaving the court full-time, he has remained busy, sitting on appeals as a senior justice and working as a mediator with The McCammon Group. On March 23 in Williamsburg, Koontz received one of [...]

Video Conference for SVP Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 7, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

Using a two-way video system to conduct the annual hearing to assess the need for secure inpatient treatment for a respondent previously determined to be a sexually violent predator did not violate his due process and statutory rights, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms the trial court judgment that respondent remains a sexually violent [...]

SCC Order Under Utility Reg Act Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 6, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

In reviewing the State Corporation Commission’s 2011 biennial review of appellant power company’s performance during the 2009-2010 period, the Supreme Court of Virginia says the SCC did not err in determining that the utility’s authorized “fair rate of return on common equity” of 10.9 percent would apply to the entire 2011-2012 period in the next [...]

Economic Loss Not Compensable Taking

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 24, 2012
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia

In these consolidated inverse condemnation actions by two landowners adjoining electric transmission lines constructed as part of a project approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms dismissing the actions for failure to allege some injury to their property or property rights. In 2008, the SCC approved a project [...]

Firm Gets Fees for Defending Counterclaim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 24, 2012
Tags: Contract, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

An engineering firm that did not have correct information and failed to site defendant’s Louisa County tire recycling plant in the service area for Dominion Virginia Power wins a remand of a decision limiting its recovery of attorney’s fees under the parties’ contract to $1 for the firm’s successful defense of defendant’s counterclaim; the Supreme [...]

Board Emails Were Not FOIA ‘Meeting’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Administrative, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

Email exchanges among members of a local school board about a possible school closure were not a “meeting” under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; although the board’s unreasonable delay in providing some documents violated FOIA, appellant was not entitled to an award of attorney’s fees and costs as a prevailing party, says the Supreme [...]

No Award, But Injury May Affect Rehab

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Workers' Comp

A UPS employee whose original claim cited a right hand and right knee injury from a fall from his truck wins an evidentiary hearing to show his hand injury keeps him from participating in vocational rehabilitation, even though the employee did not receive an award for the hand injury; the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses [...]

‘Due Diligence’ is for Service, Not Expert

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 9, 2012
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Medical Malpractice, Supreme Court of Virginia

A medical malpractice plaintiff who failed to serve a defendant doctor within 12 months of filing suit can’t extend the time to serve him by showing that she used due diligence during that time period to search for an expert to support her claim, as required by Va. Code § 8.01-20.1, and the Virginia Supreme [...]

No Med Pay for Work-Related Injury

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Insurance, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia

The Virginia Supreme Court says a police officer who suffered neck and shoulder injuries when a motorist rear-ended a county sheriff’s car in which the officer was a passenger cannot collect medical payments under his personal auto liability policy which has an exclusion for injuries covered under workers’ compensation law. Plaintiff officer’s personal policy contained [...]